Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Wrestling's Corey Lear Earns Second Straight At-Large Bid to NCAA Championship
3/13/2013 8:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 13, 2013
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell senior Corey Lear (Orangeville, Pa./Benton Area) earned his second consecutive at-large bid to the NCAA Wrestling Championship, it was announced Wednesday. Lear joins sophomore teammate Joe Stolfi(Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) to give the Bison two NCAA qualifiers this season. It is the second career NCAA berth for Lear, who wrestles in the 165-pound weight class.
The complete NCAA brackets will be unveiled Wednesday evening and at that time Lear will find out his opening matchup.
A total of 290 wrestlers, including Stolfi, earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championship. The additional 40 slots were filled Wednesday with at-large berths. Each of the 10 weight classes at the NCAA Championship will consist of 33 wrestlers.
Lear finished in sixth place at last week's EIWA Championships and the top five wrestlers in that weight class earned automatic NCAA berths, meaning Lear had to wait a few extra days to find out if he would be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, next week.
A three-year starter and three-time EIWA placewinner, Lear was 2-2 at last year's NCAA Championship in St. Louis, Mo. He is the first Bison to make back-to-back NCAA appearances since Kevin LeValleyin 2010 and 2011.
Lear is a team-best 26-8 this season after posting a 3-3 record at the EIWA Championships. He did not lose consecutive bouts during the regular season and won 13 straight matches at one point. Lear entered the EIWA Championships with a 10-2 record in bouts decided by bonus points.
Lear's 88 career victories rank tied for ninth in program history with Ken Herceg.
Stolfi, who will be making his first NCAA trip, and Lear will begin competition at the NCAA Championship next Thursday, March 21. The three-day event takes place at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
UPDATE: Corey Lear will face Northwestern's Pierce Harger in the first round of the NCAA Championship. Joe Stolfi will face sixth-seeded Bobby Telford of Iowa in his first career NCAA bout. Lear did not face Harger in 2012-13, while Stolfi lost by a 6-1 decision to Telford at December's Grapple at the Garden.
